MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN) - The New Hampshire Republican Party announced Saturday that it was withdrawing as a partner of Sunday’s primary debate on FOX because of the exclusion of two GOP presidential hopefuls.

"The first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary serves a national purpose by giving all candidates an equal opportunity on a level playing field. Only in New Hampshire do lesser known, lesser funded underdogs have a fighting chance to establish themselves as national figures,” New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Fergus Cullen said in a statement.

“The New Hampshire Republican Party believes Congressmen Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter should be included in the FOX forum on Sunday evening. Our mutual efforts to resolve this difference have failed."

Supporters of presidential candidates Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter had complained over the exclusion of both men from Sunday night’s debate, the final faceoff before Tuesday’s primary.

soundoff(871 Responses)

Ron Pual placed ahead of Giuliani in IA and has set fundraising records. He obviously has a lot of support out there. He deserves to be part of the debate.

Faux News FTL (For The Lose).

January 5, 2008 05:50 pm at 5:50 pm |

Amy

Seems that Fox is engaging in a non-monetary endorsement of certain Republican candidates, much like Oprah stumped for Obama.

Maybe in the future, with the advent of Facebook, Myspace, etc., we will no longer have to rely on "news networks" for presidential coverage. Just a thought.

January 5, 2008 05:50 pm at 5:50 pm |

Dawn

Fox News – shame on you, but a big THANK YOU because by trying to ignore Ron Paul, you've given him so much more coverage - so thanks again. Continue kidding yourselves that you are fair and balanced.

I hope supporters of other Republican candidates will wake up to see the Fox isn't the station of integrity that it claims to be. They insult your intelligence when they show you what THEY want to show you. Utmost respect for your decisions, but they should be based on ALL the information about ALL the candidates!

Big thanks to the NH GOP – kudos are making a difference and hopefully the entire mainstream media is listening to us.

Go Ron Paul
all the way!!!!!!!

January 5, 2008 05:50 pm at 5:50 pm |

Joe

Why waste our time with those two, no one's going to vote for them anyway.

January 5, 2008 05:50 pm at 5:50 pm |

ALI

It is just like FoxNews uber conservatives to exclude the candidate of it's very own party who has different views and has voted differently on the hard hitting issues than the other Republicans. Or shall we call them sheep? No politician ever speaks for what they truly believe, for what they think is right, or for what they feel may get our nation back on track and thriving. They all say what they think their party members want to hear. Republicans: "We're fighting for our freedom"... Democrats: "We need to get out... at some point" ... The crowd cheers for each and people follow blindly. We obtained our freedom centuries ago, we're fighting for the freedom of a nation's people who do not want it. Most countries are utterly disgusted with the way Americans live. Freedom is not what "they" hate, it is us for invading their homeland and slaughtering thousands upon thousands of innocent people in the name of democracy. Or was it WMD's? Wait, I think it was because of 9/11... oh so many different reasons.

Ron Paul speaks of freedom, but not imposing democracy on a nation whose beliefs do not support it, he speaks of the freedom the nation was founded on. The freedom of expression, of speech... the freedom to speak out against this asinine war, that Congress never approved without being declared and "enemy combatant" and risk being tortured for possibly, maybe having a chance of knowing something about some sort of terrorist attack.

He speaks of our rights. To bear arms, to keep every dollar earned, as he put it "To get the federal government off our backs and out of our wallets". He speaks of a foreign policy that once existed. Where barter and trade allowed each nation to flourish and function in a healthy economic way.

He speaks of free health care to all Americans, so that impoverished families can still receive care, regardless of their income. Education for all children, the list goes on. But FoxNews doesn't want us to hear that, because FoxNews does not stand for truth. They don't stand for justice, they stand for neo-con manipulation.

We the people...

Need to wake up and make a move

January 5, 2008 05:51 pm at 5:51 pm |

Gene

Thank you NH GOP for standing up to FOX. The voters should be able to hear from EVERY candidate. How else can they make an educated vote? I support Dr. Paul, but I sure didn't learn about him from FOX. They only talk about the ones THEY want for president. Oh well, there's plenty of other places I can get my news from.

January 5, 2008 05:51 pm at 5:51 pm |

Amanda

i applaud New Hampshire Republican party!

January 5, 2008 05:52 pm at 5:52 pm |

Michael

You know, last I checked, this is still America. Anybody legitimately qualified to run for president should be allowed to debate. Look at the choices on either side, is one or two more talk alots/do littles really going to make a difference? Somewhere, we lost our choice in politics just like we did in television news. Its either Republican bull or Democrat bull....its either ultra-liberal CNN or ultra-conservative FOX. It's no wonder I get my news from The Daily Show now.

January 5, 2008 05:52 pm at 5:52 pm |

Garth Williams

Fox News-Who is watching the Store? This is a No Brainer, Congressman Paul is a viable Republican candidate and should be invited to the GOP debates for NH. I am very dissappointed in the handling of the matter. It is a blunder, and it should be corrected. My Head is spinning from the land of No spin....Great Oz...We just want to see the Wizard.
Garth
Galveston, Texas

January 5, 2008 05:52 pm at 5:52 pm |

mudville9

i would like to suggest that all candidates refuse to participate in the fox news debate on sun. They have censured our choices which means they are attempting to manipulate the out come of an election and i believe that to be illegal. I as a concerned american am calling on all candidates to not participate. defend the constitution show us what your made of. each candidate deserves the same amount of media attention.

January 5, 2008 05:52 pm at 5:52 pm |

Terry, El Paso, TX

Fox does not support Ron Paul. He espouses ideas that most people perceive as slightly unhinged and his chances of winning the election IF he could get the nomination are zero.

The Fox candidate is not clear to me, but I suspect that Romney or Giuliani would suit them just fine. Those are both safe corporate Republicans who will pursue the globalized economy agenda, relax regulations on imports, turn a blind eye toward illegal immigration, and continue with the neo-conservative agenda to bankrupt the federal government. They would like Thompson better because his lower intelligence makes him more Reaganesque, but Thompson can't get the nomination.

As for the debate, Fox does not care in the least what the NH Republican Party thinks.

January 5, 2008 05:53 pm at 5:53 pm |

Betsy

I love you New Hampshire! Leave to Fox to censor the candidate that is trying to fight fascism.

January 5, 2008 05:53 pm at 5:53 pm |

Ron PaulSupporter

Fox,Cnn all of them are owned by the same people..........don't you people get this even yet.........this isn't about "Fox" it is about the people who RUN the World........hello........Bankers.........duh!

January 5, 2008 05:53 pm at 5:53 pm |

michael c peck

no big surprise here, faux news has always been suspicious to me, they are getting awful arrogant now like saying "yea were rigging the election, what are ya gonna do about it?" and what about those fake terror alerts, we've been seeing for the last 5 yrs, and those cheesey fake bin ladin videos too, and all those WMD's that never happened like weapon inspectors said, isnt fox news getting sued for damages from Iraq war for 3 trillion?you guys suck bigtime

January 5, 2008 05:53 pm at 5:53 pm |

Ken

Goodbye Simpsons, Family Guy, AMW and House. Some of my favorite shows.
I have blocked all FOX station and will never watch them again.

January 5, 2008 05:53 pm at 5:53 pm |

bob

Paul is our savior.

The neo-cons, and new world orderers are shaking in their stocking caps.

Demons hide when sun shines.

Paul is our savior.

Our last hope.

Dont mess this up people.

January 5, 2008 05:54 pm at 5:54 pm |

conecommander

Jeremy, It's nice to see that I wasn't the only one who noticed Dr. Ron Paul's exclusion from the pie chart from the Iowa Caucus. I'm excited to see how the Dr. does in NH.

January 5, 2008 05:54 pm at 5:54 pm |

Jim in Avon

Fox failed to report, so we decided: It's now CNN at our house!

January 5, 2008 05:54 pm at 5:54 pm |

Chris

So Fox has shown their true colors again. What a horrible excuse. They are one of the biggest networks and they don't have room? This is an insult and un-American!
Ron Paul looks as if he's the only thats read a book in his life since he first cited Actual books & reports he's read on foreign policy. How can you defeat an enemy you don't understand? Ron Paul is the only one wise enough to lead.

January 5, 2008 05:54 pm at 5:54 pm |

bryan

I think the fact that Fox is excluding Ron Paul is that they are afraid of him. They are so used to having so much power over who gets elected that this grass roots effort is shaking their media empire. I hope the American people start depending more on free media through the internet than controlled media of the establishment.
I am glad the republican party is not putting up with this.

January 5, 2008 05:54 pm at 5:54 pm |

shlomoamir

Fox News seems to cater to interests of Israeli special interests rather than Americans. As far as I am concerned, Fixed News is the mouthpiece of Israel and its neocon special interests that got America bogged down in a needless war in Iraq for the benefit of Israel. Is Terry O`Reilly an Israel-Firster ready to sell out the USA for Israel? Well, readers can be the judge themselves but its funny how Israel-Firsters at Fox News can get people like Ron Paul banned for bluntly saying that no more Americans would die in needless wars for the benefit of Israel and its attempts to establish a racist apartheid state over the Palestinians. Now Fox News is trying to parrot the lines of Israel-Firsters like John Bolton and other nefarious and untrustworthy neocons to try to get the USA into another horrible war in Iran (which hasn`t done anything to us). Unless Americans get the chance to hear people like Ron Paul, neocons and Israel-Firsters in America will be able to continue to hijack America and servile grovelling pôliticians from both the Republican and Democratic Parties like McCain, Clinton, Romney, Giuliani and so many others (who seem to be Israel-Firsters beholden to the American Israel Public Affairs Committtee, namely AIPAC). Go Ron Paul, and Barack Obama!!!!

January 5, 2008 05:55 pm at 5:55 pm |

Travis Breneman

Ron Paul has an enormous following and support, its not just the internet, and it's not just kids. Its no secret that Paul has finished first place in debate pollings, and straw polls, most of which fox even tried to debunk, I think its obvious that Fox has its agenda and is sticking to it, so much for the no spin zone.

January 5, 2008 05:55 pm at 5:55 pm |

becky

The question is: what exactly is Fox afraid of? Answer: The Truth. And that is the only reason why people are so rabidly supporting Ron Paul. Because they are absolutely starving to hear even a tiny grain of truth in the words of their leaders. Because they are tired of lies, spin and half-truths. Go Ron Paul!!!

January 5, 2008 05:55 pm at 5:55 pm |

Michael

Ron Paul is the answer to americas, Worthless Dollar, The Iraq War, and the deception of the u.s media like you Cnn, and Fox news. If there is a movie at the box office that isnt that good, Why would you kick it out of the movie Theatre. Would you? No thats insane, even if the little movie would cause the Box office hit to lose a lttle bit of money. Grow up, you wicked manipulaters! Ron Paul is for Freedom.